It was first posted by photographer Jason Ward on Monday and credited to Martin Le-May.

After #WeaselPecker gained momentum, British media soon picked up the story, and television channel ITV interviewed Le-May.

The amateur photographer from Essex, near London, told the broadcaster he had been walking with his wife in Hornchurch Country Park, Essex, when they heard "a distressed squawking" noise and spotted the woodpecker.

"Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life," Le-May said.

Eventually, Le-May told ITV, the weasel -- known as a "least weasel" in some countries -- lost its grip and the bird flew away.

Marina Pacheco, chief executive of Britain's Mammal Society told CNN the image looked genuine and that it was possible an omnivorous weasel would take on a woodpecker.

"Weasels will go for anything that looks like food -- they've got a high metabolism and they've got to eat a lot," she said. "It doesn't surprise me that a weasel took a punt -- I've seen a photo of a weasel charging a group of sparrows, they're very hungry animals."

But she said the weasel, which would generally try to break the neck of its prey to subdue it, may have exceeded its abilities in this case.

"I think it was a bit of a long shot -- it looks like it tried to grab the neck of the woodpecker to break it," Pacheco said. "I think that it probably doesn't have a big enough jaw to bite through the spine of the woodpecker."

Weasels would not normally target green woodpeckers, Pacheco said -- their predators are normally the size of a stoat or larger. But the birds are known to spend a fair amount of time on the ground pulling up worms and hunting insects.

"If the woodpecker had managed to hit the weasel with its beak it would have been the end of the weasel," she said. "They're quite gung-ho little creatures."

The pluckiness of the weasel spawned a number of parodies on Twitter, with manipulated images showing the creature in turn being ridden by Russian President Vladimir Putin, popstar Miley Cyrus, football star John Terry -- and even what appears to be a dog red panda dressed in a Darth Vader costume. (Update: Twitter has now educated us on the difference between a dog and a red panda. Sorry, Darth!)

As for the bird? The green woodpecker is also known as a "yaffle" for its laughing call. After the shock of being targeted by a hungry weasel wears off, we can only hope it lives up to its nickname.

Lewinsky's remarks will focus on making "a safer and more compassionate social media environment, drawing from her unique experiences at the epicenter of a media maelstrom in 1998," the TED website said.

The speech will come during the TED 2015 Truth and Dare meeting in Vancouver, Canada on March 19.

Lewinsky has become an activist against cyber bullying. She first reentered public life last year when she penned a Vanity Fair essay about life after her affair with Clinton and how she saw similarities between her case and high profile cases of cyber bullying.

in the Vanity Fair piece, Lewinsky cited the 2010 Tyler Clementi case as the reason she was going public with her cause. Clementi was a freshman at Rutgers who committed suicide after his roommate secretly used a webcam to stream his sexual encounter.

"My own suffering took on a different meaning," Lewinsky wrote about her reaction to the Clementi case. "Perhaps by sharing my story, I reasoned, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation. The question became: How do I find and give a purpose to my past?"

Lewinsky is now a Vanity Fair contributor, and her essay was nominated for a National Magazine Award.

In October, Lewinsky gave a much watched speech where she said her new mission in life was to end cyberbullying.

"Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too," she told the audience at Forbes' 30 Under 30 summit. "I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past."

Tulsa can bolster its NCAA Tournament resume and maintain its slim lead in the American Athletic Conference when it hosts Cincinnati on Wednesday. Regardless of the result, however, the Golden Hurricane will visit No. 22 SMU on Sunday in a winner-take-all showdown for the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Tulsa kept its regular-season title hopes alive with an overtime victory at Memphis on Saturday to extend its winning streak to four games.Cincinnati has rebounded from a three-game skid by posting three consecutive double-digit victories to move into a tie for third place in the conference. The Bearcats routed Tulane on Saturday to avenge a one-point defeat two weeks earlier - a game they knew they had to have to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. "The (NCAA selection) committee can't look at us and say you got beat by Tulane twice," associate coach Larry Davis said after the win.TV: 9 p.m. ET, CBS Sports NetworkABOUT CINCINNATI (20-9, 11-5 AAC): The Bearcats do not have a player scoring in double figures, but Shaquille Thomas has provided an offensive jolt since he was inserted into the starting lineup three games ago. The junior forward is averaging 14 points - more than double his season total - while connecting on 15-of-22 shots in that span. Leading scorer Octavius Ellis has bounced back with a vengeance following a four-point effort in which he was ejected for a flagrant foul, collecting 34 points and 18 rebounds in the past two games.ABOUT TULSA (21-7, 14-2): Junior guard Shaquille Harrison snapped out of a slump at the ideal time, scoring 23 points in the 74-72 victory at Memphis - the Golden Hurricane's fourth consecutive win in games decided by four points or fewer. Harrison had a string of five straight 20-point games earlier this season but had been limited to six points or fewer four times before just missing his second double-double of the year. Point guard Rashad Ray scored a season-high 18 points versus Memphis and has 19 assists versus five turnovers in the last four.TIP-INS1. The Bearcats lead the AAC with an average of 55.2 points allowed.2. Tulsa is 6-0 when it shoots at least 40 percent from the floor.3. Cincinnati is one of 16 schools to reach the NCAA Tourney in each of the past four seasons.PREDICTION: Tulsa 59, Cincinnati 56

John Boehner is facing his toughest week yet as speaker of the House of Representatives -- and that's saying a lot after a tumultuous four years of repeated efforts by his own Republican colleagues to derail his legislative agenda.

House Speaker John Boehner and his top lieutenants are downplaying the rift among Republicans that was exposed during last week's intense wrangling over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

The House cleared legislation Tuesday that will keep the agency operating through the end of September after a standoff last week threatened to shutter the agency and furlough thousands of workers. The 257-167 vote sends the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who rarely casts votes, backed the bill, along with his top lieutenants. A majority of House Republicans opposed the bill. Just 75 GOP lawmakers joined with 182 Democrats to push it across the finish line.

The legislation does nothing to rein in Obama's immigration executive orders -- a top priority of conservatives. That issue was a sticking point for weeks as Republicans tried to tie DHS funding to the repeal of the orders but the party couldn't overcome Democratic filibusters in the Senate.

The debate sparked plenty of drama on Capitol Hill over the past week. The House stayed in session late into the night on Friday after conservatives helped block a bill that would have kept DHS open for 3 weeks. Amid rumors of a potential coup, Speaker John Boehner pushed through a bill that kept the agency open until March 6 -- just enough time to work out today's deal.

Boehner told his members Tuesday morning that he had run out of options and the Senate couldn't pass a bill with immigration language attached.

He asked if anyone had any questions and not one member stood up or complained.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson praised the vote in an email to the department's employees.

"Without a doubt, the path to get here was an 11th-hour roller-coaster ride," he wrote. "But, in the end Congress provided a strong bipartisan vote of confidence in our department and your work."